Testing frenzy, medical pot, and pro-Israel: Letters

February 10, 2014

Stop the testing frenzy

The appalling story about Ethan Rediske in Scott Maxwell's column, "Making dying boy's mother battle school-testing mandates is insanity," on Sunday is part of the overall tale of high-stakes testing that has taken over our schools.

Including students with disabilities in the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, believing they also should be provided the opportunity to perform intellectually, has a positive basis, but the extreme emphasis on high-stakes testing means that the results do not always turn out the way the process was conceived.

A standardized test to measure how students are learning is appropriate. It is the emphasis and rigidity on these tests that is warping the whole idea of education. The amount of time spent on preparing for tests and taking pre-tests to predict scores, the amount of talk about the importance of tests, the installation of a fear of failure in everyone involved and pep rallies for test performance — all put incredible pressure on students, teachers, administrators and schools. They detract from real teaching and learning.

Florida is on the cusp of selecting a new standardized test that will be aligned with the new Florida Standards (formerly Common Core State Standards). This is the perfect time to contact your state legislators and the State Board of Education and ask for a reduction in the testing frenzy.

Terry Gillam Winter Park

Crist wrong to favor lifting Cuba embargo

Charlie Crist blames the U.S. embargo for Cuba's economic underperformance. But the embargo has always been offset by the massive subsidies that the Soviet Union provided during the Cold War and that the petro-state of Venezuela has provided since 2001.

And yet, despite these direct subsidies (and Cuba's newly burgeoning trade relations with countries around the world), the state is still unable to produce anything efficiently.

The most frequently cited argument by advocates, like Crist, of unconditionally normalizing relations with the Cuban dictatorship was that sanctions provide the Castro regime with an excuse for its failures and repression.

This silly argument presumes that the Cuban people are ignorant as to who is beating and imprisoning them, or who is prostituting and humiliating them to garner favor (and profit) from foreign tourists.

To lift sanctions, and hand over billions of dollars to the Castro brothers and their military henchmen — in order to try to convince fewer than 10 percent of Cubans that the U.S. is not at fault — is absurd.

Fernando Dominicis Melbourne

Kudos to UCF's Hitt for pro-Israel stance

In response to Malini Johar Schueller's guest column, "False charges of anti-Semitism can blind us to real bigotry," in Sunday's Sentinel:

I stand with University of Central Florida President John Hitt in his opposition to the American Studies Association boycott of Israeli academic institutions. Hitt has endorsed this statement from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities:

"This boycott wrongly limits the ability of American and Israeli academic institutions and their faculty members to exchange ideas and collaborate on critical projects that advance humanity, develop new technologies, and improve health and well-being across the globe ... but the call for a boycott in this case is severely misguided and wrongheaded. We urge others to express their opposition as well."

Palestinian students attend Israeli academic institutions; yet there are no Israelis allowed at Palestinian academic institutions, hospitals or businesses. When Hamas and Fatah allow Israeli students the same access Israelis allow Palestinian students, this could be the first step down the long road to peace.

The views of Schueller are part of the problem and not part of the solution.

My hope is that Hitt's pro-Israel stance will keep the boycott, divestment and sanctions anti-Israel gang far from the UCF campus.

Alan Kornman Oviedo

Make medical pot legal to relieve pain

With mixed emotions, I describe my stand on legalizing medical marijuana. I have witnessed the worst of what marijuana can do to someone, and I've experienced the relief it can bring.

As a migraine sufferer for the past 35 years, I have tried every treatment legally available. There have been about 30 medications prescribed to treat or prevent my often-debilitating migraines. Botox, ablation of nerves and more have provided little or no relief. Narcotics have gone into my body regularly and could possibly result in long-term damage.

Many migraine triggers can simply not be avoided and can result in a sufferer spending hours or days in bed. This not only affects the one in pain, but also family members. A person with migraines lives day to day not knowing whether or not it will be a migraine day.

Two months ago, I experienced a severe migraine lasting three days with no end in sight. In pain and desperation, I smoked some marijuana for the first time in my life. After inhaling it just three times I experienced immediate relief.

Only about four migraines have resulted in my use of marijuana for relief over these two months. I hope the use of medicinal marijuana will become legal for relief of chronic pain from which many suffer. It works for me, and I believe it should be available for those who need it.